All India Lockdown: Malayalam Film Producers In Loggerheads With Theater Owners!

The all India lockdown has undoubtedly affected the daily life of the citizens and almost all the industries in the country. When it comes to the film industry, things are not different. The Malayalam film industry is going through a great crisis period, as all the Vishu releases are cancelled, which resulted in a loss of around Rs. 300 Crores.

Now, the Malayalam film producers and theater owners are in loggerheads, due to the same. Recently, Malayala Manorama daily had published a story, in which some leading producers revealed they are in financial crisis despite their films did extremely well at the box office.

According to the producers and distributors, they yet to receive a total amount of around Rs. 23 Crores from the theater owners, which is the collection made by the recent Malayalam blockbusters including Mammootty's Shylock, Kunchacko Boban's Anjaam Pathiraa, Prithviraj Sukumaran-Biju Menon duo's Ayyappanum Koshiyum, and Dulquer Salmaan's Varane Avashaymund.

According to the representatives of distributors association, Varane Avashyamund has to get Rs. 3.95 Crores from the theaters. Anjaam Pathiraa and Ayyappanum Koshiyum together have to receive around Rs. 4.60 Crores. Forensic, the Tovino Thomas starrer should get Rs. 3.90 Crores. Apart from these films, the production banner Magic Frames has to get the balance amount of their last three outings, which is around Rs. 5.5 Crores.

However, the distributors association has now decided to not release films in the theaters that have not settled the amounts, when the all India lockdown comes to an end. But the Theater Owner Association, on the other, hand, rubbished the claims of the Producers and Distributors associations and stated that several film producers and distributors have received advance amounts before the releases.